If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to Mac-Forums! Join us to comment and to customize your site experience! Members have access to different forum appearance options, and many more functions.

Just ordered windows xp and parallels for my MBP today. Just one question...is it easy to set up or is it going to give me trouble? I don't need to install windows through bootcamp first do I??? And do I install parallels first?

Just ordered windows xp and parallels for my MBP today. Just one question...is it easy to set up or is it going to give me trouble? I don't need to install windows through bootcamp first do I??? And do I install parallels first?

It's pretty straightforward. Note that you can use Parallels to access a pre-existing Boot Camp partition, but you don't have to. In fact, it's preferable in many ways just to use a normal virtual machine (that uses a dynamic virtual hard drive).

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

I set up Parallels about a month ago (MacBook Pro, Leopard, 1 gigabyte) and things went wrong when the software update box popped up while I was entering the activation code. I would suggest you dismiss this box if you see it, load/start Parallels out of the box and then upgrade Parallels before you install your guest operating system. Keep in mind that you need to hold down the Fn key if you need to use a an F1 - F12 function key as I did installing Win2000 as my guest operating system. Be sure you install the tools for windows after you get XP running. It's a standard kind of Windows install.

I had some problems reading from the CD with Installshield installers. I worked around the problems by reading files from the CD drive to the OSX desktop, dragging to the Windows desktop and executing from there. Most CDs work OK .. cannot explain it but am only guessing it might be a virtual memory access problem. Everything else works including the WiFi and USB ports.

There was a Parallels Leopard upgrade about a week ago and things are less finicky now so I'm thinking you won't experience the lockups I saw.

I would let it do a more automatic kind of configuration. If you do not like the performance, there's a tool for adjusting things after the fact. I think I saw reference to a Windows XP/VISTA assistant when I created my Win 2000 VM so you might look for that. There's also a tool for moving an existing XP Pc over but I didn't try to do that.

I'd be interested in any issues you have with Windows activation and Genuine Advantage. Win 2K predates those hassles.

In Parallels you can decide how much RAM the VM machine will have up to 924Mb, it won't allow you to exceed that. It also recommends an amount, also recommends how much video RAM to set as well.

I don't know VMWare at all, but I am getting to grips with Parallels and am most happy with it - the more I get to know it, the better it gets.

I also didn't know that the VM guests will work WITHOUT Parallels tools - but not quite so well as the tools DO give extra facilities.

I wouldn't worry if I were you. You DO realise that you can download all the manuals BEFORE you get the software don't you? You can go to their website and download it. They also have a very vigorous and helpful forum too.

In Parallels you can decide how much RAM the VM machine will have up to 924Mb, it won't allow you to exceed that. It also recommends an amount, also recommends how much video RAM to set as well.

I've assigned 2GB of memory to a Parallels VM with no trouble. What version are you using?

I don't know VMWare at all, but I am getting to grips with Parallels and am most happy with it - the more I get to know it, the better it gets.

I also didn't know that the VM guests will work WITHOUT Parallels tools - but not quite so well as the tools DO give extra facilities.

I wouldn't worry if I were you. You DO realise that you can download all the manuals BEFORE you get the software don't you? You can go to their website and download it. They also have a very vigorous and helpful forum too.

You can also download a fully functional trial version of both products. There's really nothing to lose in giving them both a test drive to see which you prefer.

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

Hello all. Waiting for my new MBP! Trying to get read up before it gets here. I am still stuck on MS Outlook 2007 and my Windows Smartphone so the XP VM looks like the way I am leaning. And there seems to be a consensus that I won't NEED boot camp to successfully and painlessly run Parallels for my Outlook/Active sync and other MS products not in the MAC World. So aside from any more advice you can give;
1) Is it worth getting another 2 GB RAM
2) and where can I get it (MBP is coming with 2 GB only)
um, thats all for now.
Geoff

Hello all. Waiting for my new MBP! Trying to get read up before it gets here. I am still stuck on MS Outlook 2007 and my Windows Smartphone so the XP VM looks like the way I am leaning. And there seems to be a consensus that I won't NEED boot camp to successfully and painlessly run Parallels for my Outlook/Active sync and other MS products not in the MAC World. So aside from any more advice you can give;

Also note that Boot Camp is not a program per se. It is merely a wizard that partitions your hard drive and prepares the EFI to install Windows natively on your machine in a dual-boot manner.

Parallels on the other hand (and VMWare Fusion, which is very similar) are so-called virtualization products. What they do is essentially set up a "virtual machine" that runs within a window on your Mac. In that fashion, you can run both Windows and Mac OS X simultaneously. So, if you need to run one particular Windows app, you don't have to go through the hassle of rebooting your machine and bringing Windows up that way.

1) Is it worth getting another 2 GB RAM

If you're going to run Windows XP in Parallels, you can devote 512MB to it and still run very comfortably, leaving you 1.5GB for Mac OS X (Leopard runs pretty comfortably with 1GB). I'd hold off for now and see how it goes.

2) and where can I get it (MBP is coming with 2 GB only)
um, thats all for now.
Geoff

I highly recommend Crucial.com. They are the retail arm of Micron, one of the biggest memory manufacturers in the industry. Great customer service, great prices, guaranteed compatibility and lifetime warranty.

Liquid and computers don't mix. It might seem simple, but we see an incredible amount of people post here about spills. Keep drinks and other liquids away from your expensive electronics!

Agree the install is a breeze. I first installed XP in a Boot Camp partition, then used the trial versions of both Parallels and Fusion. I am not a tech person in the slightest ... and it was idiot simple even for me! I ultimately went with Fusion (but both are about the same so no worries if you've already bought Parallels) - and like a poster above, once I realized how well the VM actually runs, deleted my bootcamp partition and stuck with the VM. You really only need boot camp if you absolutely, positively have to run Windows natively -- for example, if you are a gamer and need to use the MBP's graphics card to run a particular game. For productivity applications, it's not necessary at all. And, I agree that XP is fine with 512 MB. I started at 1 MB for XP and trimmed it after awhile. If you run many apps at once in the VM, you could think about 1 MB.